Show 26: Memphis Slim and Roosevelt Sykes' Legacy

For today's 26th episode of the CC Blues Show, I have elected to do one more on the theme of Memphis blues. But instead of giving another compilation of early Memphis blues, I've elected to highlight two towering blues contemporaries, Roosevelt "The Honeydripper" Sykes and Memphis Slim. Sykes, born in Arkansas in 1906, forged a barrelhouse piano style in taverns and dives where the player had to mark the beat with enormous intensity just to be heard and make the people dance. Memphis Slim, meanwhile, was a powerful and calculated pianist, as comfortable with slow blues as with the boogie-woogies, and a composer who harmonized the influences of Roosevelt Sykes, Speckled Red, and Albert Ammons. Up first, we'll hear from Slim and Sykes together in conversation and performance.